


A Tale of Two Lions

by alwaysthesideofwonder



Category: Codex Alera - Jim Butcher
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26831101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alwaysthesideofwonder/pseuds/alwaysthesideofwonder
Summary: In which Max is confused and Crassus would really, really like the earth to swallow him up any second now...The rescuing Tavi from the Canim scene in The Cursor's Fury from Max and Crassus' perspective
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Max

Max was confused. 

Now, that wasn’t the first thought that ran through his brain in these situations. But it certainly was a rather strong second. Though he really shouldn’t be surprised. Being friends with Tavi generally meant getting into situations where the first thought on his mind was generally some degree of panic about what Tavi was getting them into this time (for a man without furies, he seemed rather adept at getting himself into situations where you would definitely find them useful) and then the second thought was usually confusion, whether it was how the situation contrived to come about or from however Tavi managed to get them out of it, which seemed to involve some degree of genius and a definite dose of luck.

He certainly had been feeling both the second Tavi had decided that the smartest thing to do was go race a horse out to the frontlines of the Canim army. And then to get into what looked like a shouting match with said army. And then somehow not get struck by ritualist created lightening. And then after doing the smart thing of turning back around and racing back to his own side, managing to go sliding into the Tiber and getting stuck.

And did he mention that the Canim army was still bearing down on the man?

However, that was not his currently point of confusion. 

The current point was what came after the getting stuck in the Tiber part. The part where he, who had already mounted a horse and was on his way to provide back up, had called up Androcles to protect his friend.

And then, Androcles apparently decided to have a baby.

Or maybe it was his twin? Younger brother perhaps, given that his counterpart was definitely a smidgen smaller than him?

They did both decide to roar simultaneously when he wanted them to.

But last he checked, he was only prone to forming one water fury, not two. 

He also wasn’t used to his horse’s hooves echoing the way they currently were either.

But Tavi was safe and that was all that mattered.

Though he was definitely still confused.


	2. Crassus

Crassus kind of wished that the earth would swallow him up right now.

He’d already had a rather trying few days by now, what with keeping his mother’s temper from exploding over a missing purse, getting into a fight with Scipio, losing his first legionaries to the hands of some strange tentacled airborne contraption devised by the Canim and then being placed in charge of the Knights Pisces during their first major excursion against the Canim, which was definitely not an enviable job.

So this moment, with Max staring at him, could be defined as the icing on a pretty miserable cake.

This had seemed like a good idea initially. Captain Scipio was already doing strange things, running off to talk with the Canim, clearly aggravating them and bolting back after succeeding to do so. And while there was a good part of him that suggested that the smartest idea was to stay back with the fish and keep an eye on them, the other part (which he usually tried to keep quiet) was thinking back to all those times he would slip out to the taverns in Antillus, eager to hear the songs they were singing about his brother. How courageous he was, fearless. How no one could stand a chance in a fight against Antillus Raucus’ bastard son. All things that Crassus had known growing up, watching his half-brother defy his mother time and time again.

Crassus had wanted this post because he wanted to see his brother again. But apparently seeing his brother again and dealing with the touch of envy (actually it had become a rather roaring fire since his arrival but he planned on denying that to the end of his days) at Scipio for his apparent closeness with his brother and the respect he received from Max, made that suppressed voice louder and louder, adamant that he could deserve those things too. Clearly, he never grew out of being the little boy who followed his brother around, secretly hoping for a little bit of his gloried attention, or the adolescent who in his free time would re-enact those battles on the Wall that he would hear about, pretending to be Antillar Maximus.

And so, a split second after Max’s horse started racing to intercept Captain Scipio’s, he had grabbed a horse and made for the same direction, anxiously spurring it on as he truly started to comprehend with horror what exactly the situation was.

He may have harbored some hatred (jealousy) towards Scipio but he was their captain now and had done a rather good job of it on the first go. He was starting to think that he was a man worth following. And he was important to Max. There was no way he was going to let the man end up like some of his charges had.

So when he saw the horse carrying him slip into the river, with hordes of Canim closing in eagerly, there was no time to stop and think about what the long-term consequences of his next action would be.

Instead, he called on the water, apparently simultaneous to Max, and there, to the left of Scipio, appeared a lion carved of water, droplets trickling down its mane, over the deep scar on the left breast, reminiscent of the stone lion that stood at the home of the High Lord of Antillar, just as the one that stood to the right of him.

Or rather, Androcles was reminiscent of that stone lion. Leonius was reminiscent of stolen glimpses of Androcles, created while Max was practicing and also working on irritating the High Lord and High Lady of Antillar with his horribly uncouth, formed fury.

As Androcles’ mouth started to widen, so did Leonius’ as Crassus caught on to Max’s idea, and suddenly there was a deafening roar that sent the Canim back to their host. The adrenaline was still pounding through his veins as he took advantage of the opening to reach Scipio, dismounting and jogging over to release Leonius back to the water.

The adrenaline, though, kindly takes leave the second he turned his head to find Max’s quizzical stare, no doubt regarding Androcles’ doppleganger, who definitely had not existed to his brother’s knowledge (and were he a luckier man, would have been something Max would never know about).

Oh, what he would give for the earth to swallow him right now…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because Crassus looking up to Max and wanting to be like his big brother is one of the best things about this series. And looking back at when that scene happened, Crassus has had a very trying day...

**Author's Note:**

> Max and confusion become great friends after he meets Tavi. And weird things always happen when Tavi's around so why wouldn't he conclude that Androcles managed to clone himself?


End file.
